Lesson
by Amberzlove
Summary: Can Mikey be victorious in this battle?
1. Default Chapter

I do not own the TMNT and have not written this for anything beside pure creative pleasure.

Please review. I am trying to improve my writing skills and would love any

feedback you could possibly offer.

Thank you!

Lesson

Michelangelo sat in half-lotus position in a deep meditation. He was attempting to gain inner peace to prepare for the battle ahead. This battle he knew was going to be one of the toughest he had ever faced. The war would be straining and the outcome could possibly be cataclysmic, but he chose to face it on his own. Michelangelo was a ninja and would fear no task or adversary. Opening his eyes, Michelangelo stood ready to do battle and started towards the battle zone.

Two of his brothers stood to the side of him. Leonardo, the eldest of his three brothers and his leader, stopped Michelangelo.

"Stay focused and never give up," he said placing his hand on one of his younger brother's shoulders.

Nodding his head, Michelangelo continued on his way until he was stopped again, but this time by his other brother Raphael.

"Stay tough kid." Raph said lightly punching him on the arm, "Ya can do this."

Michelangelo squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and walked out of the room. The two brothers left behind looked at one another and shook their heads sadly. This was one battle their little brother may never recover from. In unvoiced agreement they sat down waiting tensely for the end of the battle to see who would be victorious.

Michelangelo flexed his hands and arms all the while staring down his adversary. He again sought for inner peace. He had to be victorious. His brothers and Sensei could not survive another round of the vile weapons this adversary placed before them. He just _had_ to teach Donatello how to properly cook.

"Hi Mikey!" Donatello chirped at Michelangelo, "I'm ready whenever you are. What are we going to cook today?"

"We are going to be preparing spaghetti dude." Mikey said with a sigh, "While in the kitchen there are a few rules you are to follow."

"Okay." Donatello said.

"First, you are not to touch _anything_ without my permission. Second, you will follow my directions to the letter and _do not_ try to change my recipe. That would be a major bummer dude. Finally, if you have any question, be sure to ask me. Questions will help you learn better. You got that amigo?"

"Okay Mikey!" Donatello said, "I'm ready."

"Not so fast Donnie." Michelangelo said, "First put this apron on."

Michelangelo handed Donatello the apron and then turned to gather up his own. Placing the orange "kiss the cook" apron over his head and tying it smartly behind his back he turned to his brother and gaped openly. Somehow Donatello had gotten himself all tangled in the apron with one arm trapped in the mess.

"Uh, oops?" Donatello offered while blushing slightly.

Michelangelo shook his head in disbelief before going over to right his brother.

"How could someone so brilliant turn into one of the three Stooges when he enters the kitchen?" he thought as he tied the apron around his older brother.

"Okay dude, the first thing you do when you go to begin a meal is to wash your hands." Michelangelo said.

"Check." Donatello said moving to the sink.

As Donatello washed his hands, Michelangelo pulled out all the non-perishable items they would need to prepare spaghetti and placed them on the counter. He then pulled out all the pots, pans, and utensils they would need and went to the sink to wash his own hands.

"Now what?" Donatello said glancing over the various items set out on the counter.

"First we prepare the sauce dude." Michelangelo said picking up a large pot, "Now this is a soup or stew pot."

"I know what a pot is Mikey." Donatello said testily, "I may not be able to cook, but I still know a few things."

"Bro you came to me for cooking lessons and we are going to do them _my_ way. Each pot has a different function in preparing a meal. You wouldn't try to cook like a load of sauce in a skillet because there wouldn't be enough room. You got that dude?" Michelangelo said.

"Fine. Fine. This is a pot. I got it." Donatello huffed out.

"Dude chill. Now open this jar of tomato sauce and place it in the pot. This is a 32-oz jar of sauce, which should be enough for the size of our family. Pour _slowly_." Michelangelo instructed.

Donatello carefully opened the jar and poured the contents into the pot before placing the jar on the counter. Grinning triumphantly, he turned to his cooking instructor expectantly.

"Good job. Now take these five tomatoes and wash them completely and dice them up into small cubes. I will add 12 oz of tomato paste to the sauce which helps to keep the sauce from being too runny bro." Michelangelo said.

Donatello began his task as Michelangelo added the tomato paste and stirred the mixture up completely. Finished with his task, Michelangelo turned towards his brother and froze to gape once again. Donatello was carefully cutting on one of the tomatoes and measuring the cubes with a small ruler.

"Dude, what are you doing?" Michelangelo said.

"I am making sure that the parameters of each cube is in equivalent to the other so as to have a completely perpendicular and unilateral figure." Donatello said.

"Huh?" Michelangelo said with confusion on his face.

"I am cutting the tomatoes into perfect squares." Donatello said.

"Bro, the cubes do not have to be perfect just bite sized. Here you cut the two onions into small pieces and I will finish the tomatoes." Michelangelo instructed.

Michelangelo quickly finished cutting the tomatoes and added the cubes to the sauce mixture. He paused when he heard Donatello sniffing. Turning towards his brother, Michelangelo saw a tear run down Donatello's face. Feeling immediately bad for having chastised his brother and making him cry, he quickly went to Donatello's side.

"Donnie your doing a great job! Don't cry. I just need to explain myself to you better." Michelangelo said.

"I'm not crying about the tomatoes," Donatello said with more tears in his eyes, "I'm done with the onions but my eyes are stinging like fire."

"Donnie did you rub your eyes while your were cutting the onions?" Michelangelo questioned.

"Yes." Donatello said.

"You are not supposed to touch your eyes when handling onions dude. Go wash your eyes out in the sink Donnie!" Michelangelo said.

Donatello hurried to the sink to wash out the onion juice. After he was done, Michelangelo handed him a clean towel to wipe his face with.

"Sorry dude. Forgot to tell you about that." Michelangelo said relieved, "Now add the onions to the sauce and stir slowly and don't touch your eyes again."

Donatello added the onions to the sauce and stirred slowly as he was instructed. Michelangelo placed several spices and herbs in front of Donatello.

"Okay bro, now we are going to stir in the spices that will set your mouth a tingling." Michelangelo said, "First we cover the top of the sauce with a generous sprinkle of onion powder, basil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic sauce."

After Donatello had added the seasonings, Michelangelo stirred the pot thoroughly to mix all the ingredients in. He noticed the sauce was a bit too thick.

"If your sauce is too thick like this…," Michelangelo said, "then you can add a little water to the sauce. We are only going to add one cup of water."

After Donatello added the water and stirred. Michelangelo tested the sauce consistency and nodded his head in approval. He then picked up two garlic cloves and showed them to Donatello.

"Now this is a garlic clove." Michelangelo instructed.

"Mikey I know what a garlic clove is." Donatello said.

"I know you do Donnie." Michelangelo said picking up a knife, "Watch how I clean, shell, and mince the clove. Then I will add it to the sauce. Now you do the second clove."

Donatello was able to clean and shell the clove, but could not seem to keep the clove from slipping out from under his knife.

"No dude," Michelangelo said, "Hold the clove like this."

"Like this?" Donatello said attempting to replicate his brother's hold while cutting dangerously close to his own fingers.

"No. Like this." Michelangelo said demonstrating again, but his brother couldn't get the grip right, "Here. I'll hold the clove you cut."

Not realizing his mistake until too late, Michelangelo was not ready for the stinging pain from one of his fingers.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!! OWWWW!" he howled cradling his hand.

"Oh God! I am so sorry Mikey, I didn't mean to cut you! Are you okay?" Donatello said rushing to look at his little brother's finger.

Michelangelo washed his finger out and saw that the cut was not very deep or big, but just very painful.

"That's okay dude." Michelangelo said sighing softly, "It was an accident. I'll just go get Sensei to look at this. First add the minced garlic and stir. Good. Now add one pinch of sugar."

"Sugar?" Donatello asked.

"Yes. One pinch will keep the sauce from being too salty." Michelangelo said.

"Okay." Donatello said grabbing a handful.

"No dude." Michelangelo said picking up a pinch of sugar with his uninjured hand, "A pinch. Like this and stir. Then we will place the top on it and place the pot on the large stove eye and on simmer for the next two hours."

"Two hours?!" Donatello said.

"Yes. You can't rush perfection." Michelangelo said, "Stir the sauce every 15 minutes while I go get Sensei to look at my finger. We will do the meat and pasta when the sauce is almost done. Remember to stir."

After Michelangelo left the kitchen, Donatello sat down to wait for fifteen minutes to go by.

"Cooking isn't very fun." he thought.

To be continued.


	2. Lesson II

Just to let you know I cheated on the sauce recipe by pulling up an actual recipe off of the Internet. I bet you it tastes wonderful, but the anonymous person who posted this recipe uses double flavorings of onion and garlic so I bet this has a very strong flavor.

Since Mikey loves pizza, I figured he would like bold flavors, which is why I chose this particular recipe.

I do not own the TMNT and have not written this for anything beside pure creative pleasure.

Thank you!

Lesson

Chapter 2

Michelangelo's battle wound was declared non-life threatening by his Sensei, and was quickly cleaned and bandaged. He decided that Donatello could handle stirring the sauce every fifteen minutes without causing any problems especially since he had hidden all spices in the kitchen. Donnie had been known to add "secret ingredients" to dishes to "enhance the natural aura of the flavoring," but this had always led to less than appealing results to the tasters of such "enhanced" dishes.

Michelangelo settled down between his brothers on the couch and joined them in channel surfing. Seeing the Band-Aid on one of the fingers of Michelangelo's right hand,

Leonardo and Raphael chose not to ask about the lesson going on in the kitchen. They could sense their baby brother's tension and the two knew even easy-going Michelangelo could be a bear when backed into a corner. Leonardo, who had the television remote, changed to a movie he knew his little brother enjoyed to help him relax. Everything was peaceful for about forty-five minutes until they heard their absent brother yell from the kitchen.

"Mikey! There is something wrong with the sauce!"

"What do you mean there something wrong with the sauce?!" Michelangelo shouted back.

"The sauce is effervescing spume vesicles and ejecting the vesicles in my vicinity!"

"What!?" Michelangelo yelled.

"It's bubbling and spitting at me!" Donatello shouted.

"Turn the temperature down on the stove Donnie! I'm coming in!" Michelangelo called rising with a sigh from the sofa.

Entering the kitchen, he saw his older brother franticly stirring the bubbling sauce. The sauce had spit all over the stovetop. Pushing Donatello aside, Michelangelo grabbed two potholders and removed the sauce from the stove eye. He then looked at the temperature and noticed that the setting was higher than he had set it earlier.

"Don did you lower the temperature before I came into the kitchen?" he asked his brother.

"Yes I did." Donatello said.

"Dude, then why is the temperature set higher than it was when I left the kitchen?" Michelangelo asked getting a little agitated.

"Um...well, I figured if I raised the temperature the sauce would cook faster and then I _did_ lower the temperature when you told me to." his brother said sheepishly.

"Donnie! I told you _NOT_ to touch anything without my permission and you gave me your word of honor. Do you cook without honor?" Michelangelo demanded putting his hands on the area that would be his hips under his shell.

"No."

"Then do as I tell you. I know the proper methods to cooking and you don't which is why I am teaching you bucko. Now I am going to put the sauce on the other eye. Do not touch the temperature and continue stirring every fifteen minutes. Clean the mess you made bro but _NOT_ until the eye cools down. You got that amigo?"

"Yes sir." Donatello said.

"I am going to finish my movie and then we will begin preparing the meat and pasta." Michelangelo instructed as he walked back out of the kitchen.

Donatello settled himself down and stirred the sauce every fifteen minutes as he had been instructed. After sampling the sauce, he had to admit that his brother was correct in "you can't rush perfection" because the sauce was delicious. Unfortunately, our loveable Donnie was a scientist and scientists often find themselves experimenting which can lead to problems.

_And onward! Only one more chapter for you. If I did not have so many deadlines at my job I would have tried to tie up everything in just two chapters. I try not to write really long stories that are hard to keep up with, especially around the holidays. Please tell me what you think._

_Love,_

_Amber_


	3. Lesson III

I do not own the TMNT and have not written this for anything beside pure creative pleasure.

Lesson

Chapter 3 

As the credits rolled for the movie, Michelangelo had to admit that he felt much better. He had allowed his mind and body to relax and was no longer stressing over the earlier episodes in the kitchen. Donatello had not had any more problems with the sauce throughout the movie.

"Maybe I am making too big a deal out of this." Michelangelo thought to himself, "Everybody has areas that are harder for him or her to learn to do. I have problems understanding Donnie's science, Raph has trouble learning manners, and even Leo must have something he has difficulties with. So what that Donnie is having trouble learning to cook. He is always taking things slowly for me and I will just take it slowly for him. Coolness. I can do this."

After his own little pep talk to himself, Michelangelo walked towards the kitchen while putting his apron back on. He was now ready to instruct his bro on the finer points of spaghetti meat and noodles. Fortunately for Michelangelo, he did not hear his other two brother's placing bets on the outcome of this meal.

"Donnie are you ready to finish dinner?" he said bounding into the kitchen.

"You bet I am." Donatello said, "Check out this sauce bro. It has been agitated to a farthing of an hour at the appropriate calefaction."

"Come again Dude?"

"I stirred the sauce every fifteen minutes at the correct temperature. I tasted it and it is delicious Mikey."

"Um…excellent Don." Michelangelo commented while washing his hands, "Now put the sauce on the lowest temperature so it stays warm while we start with the meatballs. Go and get the five pounds of ground beef and the eight Italian sausage links out of the fridge. Good. Now I always rinse the meat off before cooking. You never know who packaged the meat or how clean they were dude. Totally gross-ular!"

"Nice to know you care about sanitation and hygiene Mikey." Donnie said impressed.

"Of course bro. Who'd want to eat food packaged by somebody who had just picked his or her nose? Gross out city." Michelangelo said, "Now take the Italian sausages and smash them into a bowl and then add the ground beef and mix completely. Then roll the meat into quarter sized balls."

"Check." Donatello said beginning his new task.

"Good. Now you will place your meatballs in this large casserole dish that I have already covered in tin foil which will help with clean up later. Put in two teaspoons of olive oil so the meatballs won't stick to the pan and place them in the oven on 350 degrees. The meatballs will cook for thirty minutes."

"Check." Donatello said.

"When there is only ten minutes left to go on the meatballs you fill this large pot with water and one teaspoon of olive oil. Bring the water to a boil and then add this whole, large box of spaghetti noodles. Boil the noodles for five to seven minutes and…Voila! Dinner is served. You got that Donnie?" Michelangelo instructed.

"Got it."

"Alright. I know you can do this because this is the easiest part so I will leave you to do this on your own while I make the salad in the next room and set the table."

"Are you sure Mikey?" Donatello questioned.

"You can do this Donnie. I'm sure of it. Just follow all of my directions to the letter and Sensei and the others will be singing your praises. Call me when dinner's on." Michelangelo said as he left the kitchen with the salad and dinner setting supplies.

"Righteous!"

Donatello did as he was instructed. He was quite proud of the perfectly quarter sized meatballs he constructed. However, instead of measuring the olive oil out as he had been instructed, he poured in way too much. He didn't think this would be a problem because all of his bros loved the taste of olive oil. What was a little too much anyway? It only added to the flavor right? He then carefully placed his precious meatballs in the properly heated oven and set the timer.

"I'll just get the water ready in the pot so it will be done when it is time to start the noodles." Donatello thought, "But this pot that Mikey picked doesn't seem big enough to hold the noodles that the five of us will eat. I'll just get another pot."

Unfortunately, our favorite scientist began exploring and found a neat little gizmo that peaked his interest…a pressure cooker.

"Perfect." Donatello said out loud, "It even has a lid so the water comes to a boil faster."

After twenty minutes the timer went off and Donatello placed the water/oil combination on a stove eye set on high. He decided that it also wouldn't hurt to go ahead and add the noodles as well and placed the lid on the pressure cooker.

After ten minutes several things happened at once. Donatello smelled something burning and opened the oven to see the meatballs on fire thanks to having too much oil in the pan. He quickly turned off the oven and desperately started fanning the burning pan with his apron only to catch the apron on fire as well. Then the pressure cooker started bouncing dangerously on the stove.

"MIKEY!!!" Donnie screamed throwing the apron on the floor and backing away to the opposite side of the kitchen. He accidentally knocked the glass jar of the spaghetti sauce onto the floor and shattering it into tiny pieces.

Michelangelo raced into the kitchen and took in the situation in a blink. He then grabbed his older brother and pulled him out of the kitchen just before the pressure cooker exploded sending water, noodles and shrapnel throughout the kitchen and dousing the fire. Michelangelo stood up and winced in pain since he had several pieces of glass embedded in the bottom of one of his feet and looked into his devastated kitchen to see noodles dripping down from the ceiling, water and glass everywhere, and the burnt remains of an apron and meatballs. Leonardo, Raphael, and their Sensei came racing around the corner for they had heard the explosion as well and took in the devastation in shock. All eyes turned towards a very shaken, uninjured Donatello.

"Um…oops," he offered sheepishly.

Splinter quickly took charge of the situation seeing that Michelangelo had reached his breaking point. His whole body was trembling with anger and adrenaline.

"My son you are injured," Sensei said to Michelangelo, "Come into my room so I can treat your wounds. Leonardo and Raphael go and pick up some pizzas to eat with the lovely salad Michelangelo has prepared. Donatello, clean up your mess and from here on out you are banned from the kitchen. Are we clear?"

"Yes Sensei," the brothers said heading towards their given tasks.

Splinter choose to ignore the, "You owe me ten bucks" that strangely remind him of Raphael's voice that echoed from behind the lair's door that Leonardo and Raphael had just exited.

After a talk with Sensei and a delicious meal of "ninja" pizza and salad, Michelangelo began to feel better. He felt kind of like a king being served since he had to keep his foot up on a chair. However, he found that he was unable to forgive Donatello that easily even after he had apologized to him profusely. Michelangelo had not spoken to his brother for several days after the horrendous cooking lesson.

"Ya goin to stay mad at Donnie forevah?" Raphael asked as he sat with his other three brothers on the couch.

Donnie looked up hopefully and listened to his baby brother's answer with a little trepidation.

"No dude. After seeing how hard Donnie had to work to clean and fix up the kitchen I think I can forgive him now. But I did learn some things." Michelangelo said.

"What's that?" Leonardo asked.

"One. Noodles do not scrape off of ceilings easily. Two. Sometimes you have to accept defeat. Finally, three never allocate to that with acumen masterminded-ness to participate in food preparation since not all with acumen masterminded-ness has the inclination towards such a task.

"Huh?" Leonardo and Raphael said as Donatello and Michelangelo laughed.

"In other words," Donatello said sharing a smile with Michelangelo, "don't ever ask me to cook again. Just because I'm a genius in some things, doesn't mean that I am a genius in all things. Forgiven Mikey?"

"Forgiven Donnie.

Mikey has a new rule for the kitchen now.

"No Donatellos allowed!"

The end.


End file.
